Artists and art institutions have to learn how to play hardball. A democratic society needs a democratic art and we have a right to demand it.
Hans HaackeI have a particular interest in corporations that give themselves a cultural aura and are in other areas suspect. Philip Morris presents itself in New York as the lover of culture while it turns out that if you look behind the scenes, it is also a prime funder of Jesse Helms, someone who is very hostile to the arts.
Hans HaackeMuseums are managers of consciousness. They give us an interpretation of history, of how to view the world and locate ourselves in it. They are, if you want to put it in positive terms, great educational institutions. If you want to put it in negative terms, they are propaganda machines.
Hans HaackeArt in the art world, and culture in general, are branches of the media, which produces our political and social thinking climate.
Hans Haacke